Touch and Go
by PhoenixIsis
Summary: Ogata-san said that a new wave was coming to the Go world. Following right behind Hikaru, who just became a Pro, two girls start to enter that wave. One a Go player, another a singer. How will the Go world deal with this duo? (On Hold)
1. Prologue: Meet the Girls

This is a dual author fict between PhoenixIsis and Lady Blackpearl. Please check out our other stories. We hope you enjoy our Hikaru no Go story as much as we have in writing it. Enjoy.  
  
Disclaimer: We do not own Hikaru no Go. though we got dibs on Waya for Pearl and Hikaru for Isis.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Berdine toyed with the ring on her pinky idly, as she tended to do by way of nervous habit. Either that, or fuss with her hair, but in the tight quarters of the airplane seats, that wasn't exactly possible. So play with her ring she did, earphones humming the tones of the CD that now spun beneath the cover of her discman. The flight to this point had gone by easily. From the time she boarded in Paris, her heart was pounding in excitement. She'd been to many countries before in her life, but never any of the Asian parts of the world. Asia really was different from Europe, different from the Americas.  
  
It thrilled her that she was going to be off to such a new and unique place as Japan. This excitement fueled her in a conversation with a French fluent Chinese man on his way to a convention in Rome from a brief business trip in Paris. He shared his experiences in numerous other countries with her, and she told him of the chateaus and musée's he should visit were he to come back to France again. Their conversation had lasted four hours, and Berdine had hardly noticed the amount of time that passed, the scenery below, and the countries they stopped in.  
  
Between her anticipation and the way she spent so much time doing her favorite thing (talking, of course), she hadn't hit one low. But her conversational companion had gone, having gotten off the plane at his stop, and she was faced with an empty seat and no one left to talk to. That is, except for the lump of flesh that snored at her right. She prodded her brother with one finger, right at that sensitive niche at his waist. The boy snorted and jumped, then passed her an annoyed look. Berdine plucked the earphones from her ears and then made similar work of her brother's.  
  
"Dis, combien d'heures jusqu'à nous arrivons dans-"  
  
"Practice your Japanese," he replied. "You haven't been in class for a year, and I don't want you embarrassing me."  
  
"You know I speak it ten times better than you do. And you've been taking it for a year more than I have." Berdine wrinkled her nose, and her brother shrugged nonchalantly. "How much longer until we get to Japan?"  
  
"Don't know." The blonde boy shucked his shoulders and rubbed at his eyes tiredly. "Dad said it's about a twelve hour flight."  
  
"And it's been about four. Oh ick. I have to sit in this seat for eight more hours?!"  
  
"You should've stayed up all night like me. Then you could just sleep."  
  
"I guess so. But I probably would've gone insane if I stayed up that long the night before."  
  
Her brother yawned and sat up in his seat. If it weren't for the tea brown eye color the two siblings shared and the way they bickered, it would be hard to tell their relationship with one another. Seventeen-year-old Axelle Lamontagne was a year older than Berdine, but his height made him appear a good three or four years older, especially when standing next to his rather short sister. Freckles littered his cheeks and nose, the kind that had disappeared from Berdine's face when she hit puberty. He typically wore a goofy pair of sunglasses atop his head to keep his shaggy blonde hair out of his face, those had been discarded now in favor of a backwards-turned baseball cap. Basically, Axelle looked like his parents. He had his father's jaw line and brow, and his mother's slender nose and bright smile. Berdine, on the other hand, looked like their father's sister, Aunt Rachelle. Rachelle was a brazen redhead with a love for anything high- adrenaline. Berdine wasn't half as rebellious and brave, but definitely was the spitting image of her adventurous aunt, from her garnet hair to her pug nose and heart-shaped face.  
  
Where Berdine didn't inherit her parents' looks, she did gain her mother's personality. Mrs. Lamontagne was a bubbly woman, talkative, positive, and very good with handling other people's feelings. Berdine was a bit clumsier in the latter department, but overall was her mother's daughter, just as Axelle was his father's son. Mr. Lamontagne was a business strategist with a thirst for adventure. Axelle wasn't half as serious as his father, but maintained the go-getter spirit like a fine art. At seventeen, Axelle was one of the top Jeu de la Dame players in France, and competed in professional outings regularly. He'd made a good sum of money for college already, and now looked to improve on his game even more so that he could compete at an international level.  
  
This was the reason their parents had arranged to send the siblings to Japan for their summer vacation. Originally, Axelle had been the only traveler, but pouting and persuading on Berdine's half had earned her a ticket as well. Axelle was going to Japan to look in on the Go players there-apparently, observing their strategizing would assist in his own playing. Go was a much more complicated game than Jeu de la Dame was, and from the way Axelle talked about it, he seemed to be catching some sort of infectious bug. He'd probably come back to Paris with a board and pieces and fervor to become "the best." Berdine was going just to go. That, and she knew that the music scene in Japan was rather appealing. A future singer needed to explore all the avenues available, anyway.  
  
Berdine stretched and yawned, the ring she toyed with before now forgotten. She nuzzled against her brother's shoulder affectionately, and the boy gave her a fraternal pat. Perhaps it was her boredom, perhaps it was just the idea of having to sit for so long. Either way, Berdine was getting rather sleepy, despite the eight hours of sleep she'd gotten the night before. She closed her eyes, listening to her older brother's breathing until she found herself lost in a dream about her first concert in Japan, thousands of fans screaming her name.  
  
** ** **  
  
She sighed as she placed the last Go stone into place. Today she had spent her morning off working through kifu of several different games. It was time consuming, but she also found that it was fairly useful to get used to different types of Go. She slowly separated the stones and placed them back into their holders before standing up. She was tired of sitting here and really wanted to go out and do something. After placing the two holders back onto the goban, she stood up and stretched her legs.  
  
She walked over to her mirror and took a look at herself. Her violet colored hair, which normally drifted down to just below her shoulders, was pulled up into a high ponytail adorned with small blue fan clips. The tips of her hair were dyed a light lavender matching the color of her eyes. She wore a black shirt with the characters of electric fan written in blue glitter. She wore a black skirt that reached her knees, with blue fans scattered over as a pattern. Beneath she wore black spandex pants that reached half-way down her leg. Blue socks accented her ankles and matched her blue slippers.  
  
Her face was void of make-up, showing that the girl was just that, a girl. At age thirteen, she was the spitting image of a girl caught in the middle of being a child and an adult. Her figure was one of a girl just blossoming into her adult form, though her height was still a flat five foot nothing. Other than that, however, Eriza was still very much a child. Her personality was still very much child-like, except when she played Go.  
  
Since the age of six, Eriza Itoko played the game Go. She had stumbled upon the game while she was browsing through a department store. Her parents had been so engrossed in some piece of furniture that they never even noticed that their only child had wandered off, in search of more interesting things. She was, to this day, notoriously known to have a very short attention span. Even then it had been no real surprise when the parents turned around to find her gone. The store clerk, however, had been so surprised and worried about the little girl that he had the whole store up in arms trying to find the errant little girl.  
  
The sight that greeted the family and personell, when they found the girl, was one that they would never forget. She was found playing Go against an elderly looking man. She had her small pink tongue peaking out the corner of her mouth, her brows were furrowed in concentration, and her small hand held a white go stone. The man sitting across from her had a slightly surprised look on his face, but on closer inspection it was one more of fear than glee.  
  
"She's winning," mumbled her father. This remark was heard by a few people passing by, causing them to stop in their tracks to watch the game. Many soon wore similar shocked expressions on their faces as they watched the girl place her stone with cutting percision. She did not know how to hold the stones properly, but at that age it really didn't matter too much. The more important matter was the fact that the girl had just won the game. The old man's eyes widened, and with a saddened look he as he said, "I resign."  
  
Eriza smiled at the memory. Her parents had been so surprised that they bought her the goban and stones, and started teaching her how to play. At first she just watched games play before she recreated them. Her photographic memory was astounding, and it was soon found that her skill for remembering how a game was played made her a strong opponent. Her father, once a Four- Dan Go player, taught her until she surpassed him in skills, or had all his moves memorized, when she turned ten years old. Since that time she studied at Go salons and with several other Dans to improve her skills, much to her parents delight.  
  
This year she was going to be an Insei and then take the Pro test in the coming spring/summer. Needless to say she was extremely excited about it. She may have a short attention span for most things, but not for Go. It was her strength and peace of mind, even when she lost her games. She liked to think of Go as the glue that held her together and prevented her from going in a hundred different directions at once.  
  
She opened up her door and shuffled out of her room and hurried down the steps of the house. The house itself was two stories with two wings. The bottom of the first wing was the apartments of her grandparents, since her father was the eldest son. Based on traditions of the Japanese culture, the eldest son took care of his parents when they retired. Her grandparents had very traditional furniture and appliances decorating their area. They had one bedroom, one bath, a living room, a dinning room, and a kitchen. The main entrance to the house was on this side of the wing as well. If you walked through the doors to the right you would enter the grandparents apartments.  
  
To the left was the guest apartments that had three bedrooms, one study, a kitchenette, and a small sitting room. All these rooms, except one that her mother used for her seamstress work, were not in current use. However, her parents loved to have company, and thus usually invited many people to stay. Today, some family from some other country, she cannot recall since she wasn't listening, would stay with them for the next year or so. The son apparently was Chekka pro who was here for training to become better. That was kind of confusing to her because he wanted to play Go, which wasn't anything like checkers. Her family, however, was very excited. That is if you don't include Eriza, who was too busy getting ready for her test to become an Insei to really notice.  
  
The stairs in front of the entrance led up to her immediate family's apartments. They used the entire upper floors of both wings. Another set of stairs lead down to the guest apartments, and ultimately the small backyard garden. There were three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a dinning room, a tatami room, a den, a kitchen, and two studies. She played Go in the tatami room, while her mother used one of the study rooms as her storage shelf for her sewing supplies. The other study, her father used for his business.  
  
Since "retiring" from the main arena of the Go world, he owned several small companies that sold various Go supplies and other board game equipment. Her family was not rich, but were more in the medium- high income range. Her mother, as a hobby and main reason why her parents weren't filthy rich, made and sold many different kinds of clothing apparel. She did this all for fun, since she loved sewing, and as a result she typically didn't really make any money. This hobby ultimately meant that Eriza's entire wardrobe, accessories included.  
  
She kicked off her slippers and pulled on her shoes to match her outfit. "I'm going out!" she called.  
  
"Don't stay at the Go Salon late, Eriza-san! You have school tomorrow and our guests are coming tonight!" replied a woman's voice, her mother.  
  
"Yes, yes!" she called back. She picked up a small backpack purse and hurried out of the house. If anyone asked Eriza what her school was called, she would reply that she doesn't know. She could, however, tell you that you walk three blocks to the train station, go to platform five after buying a two hundred and fifty yen ticket, get off after seven stops, go right from the station about one block, and there was her school. Though, she could really careless what her school was called since she spent most of her time at Go salons and Go study groups.  
  
She maneuvered her way through the streets, riding her bike, towards the more active areas. Her mind wandering about how life was going to be as an Insei. Her confidence in her ability took out the "if" part of getting into the Go Institute. She was going to be an Insei and then a Pro. Was that her dream? She wasn't quite sure what her dream to be was anymore because she never had time. Her playing of Go and going to school was all her brain could handle, and even that sometimes was too much. There was a lot of stuff she had to know for Go and that alone was a history, math, and language skill all rolled up into one.  
  
Her lavender eyes brightened at the building up ahead. It was the Chietsu Go Salon. She was known to hang around there almost every day. It was a good place to play because it was also about three blocks from the Go Institute. That meant Pros, Insei, and amateurs alike turned up there. She was itching for a good game, even if she lost. She parked her bike amoung all the others, ignoring the sign that said "Do not park your bicycles here." No one ever noticed the sign much, as there were usually fifty to a hundred bikes all parked there. She stretched her slightly stiff arms as she entered the salon and greeted a middle-age woman.  
  
"Good afternoon, Itoko-chan," the woman said.  
  
"Hi, Chou-san. Are there any interesting people in today?"  
  
"Hmmm... I think we have some of the lower Dans hanging around towards the back."  
  
Eriza nodded her head and handed over a five hundred yen coin. "Can you let me know when six rolls around. I have to be home early."  
  
"Sure, Itoko-chan. Have some good matches."  
  
"Thank you very much." Eriza smiled and entered into the lounge.  
  
** ** **  
  
The pilot's voice was the first thing to greet Berdine as she came out of her slumber. He was announcing their arrival in Tokyo, and asking passengers to remain seated until the plane had halted completely. Again, Berdine prodded her living pillow, who groaned a bit and opened one eye sluggishly.  
  
"We're here," she said. "Get your things, it's going to be crazy getting out of here."  
  
Axelle grunted in reply and sat up a bit, cupping a yawn with one hand. His sister smiled, and while he was still groggy, stole his baseball cap.  
  
By the time the aircraft finally touched down, Berdine felt like her heart was going to pound its way out of her chest. Her knees knocked anxiously, her palms were sweating, and her grip on her brother's wrist was getting tighter by the second. The boy winced a bit and gave her braid a good yank.  
  
"Calm down, you spazz monster."  
  
"I can't. This is going to be so great. I can't wait to meet our foster family. I wonder what their daughter is like. She's three years younger than me."  
  
"And a Go professional. So she's probably very mature. You know, unlike the daughter in this family."  
  
"Hey, you're a professional, and there's no way anyone can use the name Axelle Lamontagne and the word mature in the same sentence without being sarcastic."  
  
"Give me my hat back, brat."  
  
"No way, shaggy."  
  
Axelle grabbed at the bill of the cap on Berdine's head, and the girl shrunk back, deflecting him and grabbing a hold of his hands. The siblings' scuffle was quickly ended, as Axelle over powered his sister and stole the cap back, leaving Berdine with considerably frizzed hair and a pout. Before Berdine could retort or fix her messed mane, the plane took up its spot at the terminal, and passengers were standing and gathering the luggage they'd brought on board. Axelle shouldered both his bag and his sister's, and hurried down the aisle, leaving the redhead to tangle her way through the other passengers and yell playful threats in his direction.  
  
** ** **  
  
Eriza hurried into the house, slipping off her shoes in one swift movement. She was late. Her mother had called her on the cell phone that they were going to pick up the two teenagers at the airport at five o'clock. Being the normal forgetful and engrossed Go player she was, she forgot the time and ignored Chou-san about the time. She had been in the middle of a match with a young adult around nineteen who was going to be taking the pro exam come next spring. He was good, she found out early on, but not quite good enough, at least not yet. He mentioned that he was going to china in a few months to learn at the institute there. She wished him the best of luck and told him that she looked forward to seeing him at the Pro exams next year.  
  
Now here she was rushing up the stairs at seven o'clock, late as usual. She hoped that she wouldn't be in too much trouble. "I'm home!" she announced as she slid into the main room. Her family was situated at the dinning table, her mother placing the food on the table.  
  
The woman shot her daughter a reproving frown. "Go wash up, Eriza-san and don't yell so loudly. You scared our company." Her Japanese was fast and sharp, making it hard for anyone who wasn't born into the language get lost in the twists.  
  
Eriza blushed deeply and bowed sagely. "Sorry." She hurried into the bathroom and washed her hands and returned to the table. She found her spot next to a girl a few years older than her, with the reddest hair she had ever seen in her life. "Cool," she breathed as she sat down. "Sorry for being so late and not meeting you and your brother," she started, glancing over at the boy across from her. "I will try better." She spoke in careful Japanese, just to make sure she didn't blow the girl away. After all, she didn't know how much of the language she knew, if she knew any at all. "Welcome to Japan. I'm Eriza. Age thirteen, blood type A." She smiled, nodding her head slightly in greeting.  
  
** ** **  
  
Berdine's impression of the Itoko household was, at first, one of awe. Granted her home was large and ornate, something rather rare in a densely populated area like Paris, but the house that the Itoko's lived in was very meticulously organized. The way the rooms were arranged, the way the furniture was positioned, everything seemed to have been placed perfectly. Against her own judgement, she found herself getting nervous. The mother was a kind woman; she'd found this out from the car ride back, even if it were hard to always follow what she said. She had a very short temper, though, and as the daughter entered, Berdine found herself wondering if that quality had been handed down. Eriza greeted the two politely, though, and Berdine had to grin at how incredibly cute she was. Japanese girls had such child-like voices to begin with, and the purple hair just assisted in it. Berdine smiled wider and gave a small bow as she introduced herself.  
  
"Pleased to meet you, Eriza. I'm Berdine, and this is my older brother Axelle. I'm sixteen and he's seventeen. Your parents probably told you he's a professional-" She stopped, searched for the word. "Chekka player. Well, don't let him fool you. He's not that great."  
  
Axelle grumbled an "oi" in protest, but his sister didn't seem to notice. "In fact, one of the only reasons he's a professional is because the pool of players in France is so limited. Every time he plays someone from another country, they crush him."  
  
"Berd, shut up."  
  
"So don't go to rough on him when he eventually asks you to play with him, okay? He gets all sulky after he loses."  
  
The girls laughed, Mrs. Itoko even hiding a smile behind her hand. Axelle twitched visibly and reached over, giving Berdine's braid another stern yank. For the next year, it seemed Itoko household was going to be a bit livelier. 


	2. Meeting the Go World

A/N: As for how long this has been put off, I'm sorry. My co-author bailed on me and I just haven't gotten around to filling in the holes to her parts. Sorry again, but here's what you've been patiently waiting for. The REAL chapter 1. To warn you. There are going to be a lot of spoilers for the end of the manga. However, after the Honnibo tournament, where the manga ends, I'm going to have to drift off and create more of the story. I hope to develop Hikaru's character more and hopefully get to the Hand of God stuff too. So never fear your favorite characters are still here, I'm just adding in a few to help build the personalities a little more. Oh and this starts in the 15th volume of Hikaru no Go, after Sai is gone and Hikaru has decided to stop playing Go.  
  
~~Chapter 1: Meeting the Go World~~  
  
Eriza, dressed in a plain black skirt and shirt, hummed to herself as she started pinning two small butterfly clips into her ponytail. She next pulled on a pair of black tights with butterflies embroidered into the fabric, matching the clips in her hair. She pushed her slippers back onto her feet, taking one last look into the mirror, before running out of her room.  
  
Today was the Annual Young Lion's Tournament, and she wasn't going to miss it for the world. She couldn't wait to test her skills against the young pros. She was going to loose, of course, but she still couldn't wait to see what they could teach her about the game. The only downside of this tournament, though, was the fact that she had to allow her two host siblings to come with her. She had no choice since both her parents were going out with friends for the day.  
  
Not that Eriza didn't like her siblings, she really did like them. The problem was that they tended to get too excited and loud at Go matches. Not a very comforting thought, seeing as Eriza tended to get really nervous around loud noises and crowds. And Berdine and Axelle were anything but quiet when she played Go.  
  
Eriza sighed. If she ignored them enough, maybe she would continue to do well. That was hoping a lot, but still she liked to dream. She slide down the banister to the first story of the building before calling out loudly, "Beru-chan! Eze-kun! Let's go! I'm going to be late!"  
  
Then again, she really did enjoy spending time with them, outside of the game. Before them, she spent all her time in Go salons and in the Tatami room. She lived and breathed Go. Now, she lived and breathed her siblings. They took her everywhere, kicking and screaming at times. The Ueno Zoo, a place she had never gone to, was even more exciting than she thought it would be. They spent hours just playing with a monkey and tiger statue.  
  
And the department stores... She had never imagined spending five hours in one. Sure they were typically seven stories tall, but she usually spent no more than and hour tops there. No, her life had certainly looked a little brighter now, than it had a year ago.  
  
She glanced at her watch. Time to go. "Bye!" she yelled and ran out the door, knowing her host siblings would be right behind her in another minutes.  
  
*** ***  
  
Berdine was just finishing up with in the bathroom, with Axelle continuously complaining outside the door that she takes too long, when she heard Eriza's call. She was highly amused by her Japanese little sister when she tried to speak her's and Axelle's name. For one, Berdine's name was just to hard for her to pronounce, and two, well since x's and l's aren't part of the Japanese language they had to be inventive. In exchange, though, they got to call Eriza, Eri-chan- much to her dislike.  
  
She frowned slightly, thinking about the upcoming June. This would make almost one year since Axelle and herself have been with the Itoko family. In that time, though, Berdine still thought there was very little she accomplished. She wanted to be a singer, but so far all she did was do homework and watch Eriza play Go. Frankly, the school work wasn't bad, but Go just wasn't her thing. Axelle enjoyed it a lot, but really couldn't play worth a dime. She, on the other hand, finally understood most of the rules and strategies, thanks to Eriza's major habit of reading a whole ton of kifu day in, day out.  
  
That Eriza certainly knew her Go, but other than that, she was hard to decipher. She rarely spoke about herself. After a year, Berdine still knew as little about her as when she first arrived. The only real thing she could decipher was the fact that Eriza was prone to forgetting everything, except Go. She can never recall where any of her classes are, or the name of her school. She forgot all of their birthdays, including her very own, and every single holiday, including Christmas. It was almost like Go was the only thing going for her. It made Berdine really sad at times. She adored Eriza and was now quite attached to her. Therefore, it was very difficult to watch her struggle through the unspoken problems.  
  
She sighed. Well, she had problems too, but she always told Eriza all about them. She seemed to understand and always have a good word of advice. Oh, and Eriza always surprised her one or two times a week by taking her to Karaoke bar, so that she could wow them all with her song. And the fact that Eriza continued to play checkers with her brother, even though he always won, was some backbone. Axelle was such a whiner during their games, but she took it all.  
  
Berdine opened the door, her dark green summer dress swishing slightly. Her red hair, pulled back in a French twist, exposed her neck wear she wore a silver pendant. Yellow socks and pink slippers adorned her feet, throwing off the whole 'picturesque' matching outfit. She had pushed over Axelle, whom had been in front of the door, looking down the hall to see where he fell. "That's what you get for standing in front of the door."  
  
Axelle grumbled as he got up from the ground. His blonde hair, highly untidy, was adorned with a pair of sunglasses. He wore a yellow t-shirt with 'Baka Desu' on it in blue and a pair of sagging pants. "Moron, Eriza just left! Come on, she's a fast runner!"  
  
Together they sprinted towards the door, tossed on sandals (Author keels over in horror. Socks with sandals? My parents would kill me if I did such a thing!) and with two "Itakimasu!" they were gone out the door chasing their hyperactive Go player.  
  
*** ***  
  
"It's been seven days... seven days since..." Hikaru Shindo paused in mid- thought. He couldn't say it. Couldn't bare it. Was it all just some cruel, sick joke? He would come back, right? He would be able to play Go all the time, no strings attached. Would he even want to? "I'll let you play," Hikaru said, his voice weak and barely above a whisper. He was dying inside.  
  
Other thoughts also plagued him. Did he ever even exist? Was it all just a dream? Was there ever such a person with his name? Was his mind just playing tricks on him? "No," Hikaru mumbled out. "He was real. Sai..." The sentence trailed off with the wind. Fujiwara no Sai was real. He had to be! There were just too many things that could not be explained away. The kifu in the storage room at the Go Institute had shown him the answer. It may have said Shuusaku Honinbou, but it was clearly Sai's handy work. His move... "Up, down, left, right, diagonal... the move that blew away an opponent's will to play," he muttered. He had been so stupid! So ignorant! He should have let Sai play, but he had to be selfish!  
  
He balled his hands into fists, his eyes squeezed shut, ignoring all that occurred around him. That turned out to be folly for a minute later a girl collided into him. He cursed colorfully, picking himself off the ground. His green eyes surveyed for injury, while his hands dusted off his yellow and black shirt. A black number five was written in the middle of the shirt and he wore matching black pants. Yellow and black sneakers completed the outfit, and his mix and matched hair completed the whole imposing figure.  
  
He glared towards the girl on the ground who appeared to be saying "Koishi" over and over again. "Pebble?" He asked aloud.  
  
In a flash, the girl was back on her feet, bowing incessantly. "I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention. Sorry, sorry, sorry!"  
  
Hikaru, unsure what to do, just shrugged. "It's okay. No harm done, but you should pay more attention to where you are going." He mentally hit his head at that comment. He hadn't been paying attention either. He was so self- absorbed into his thoughts that he hadn't noticed anything around him until reality hit him like a ton of bricks, literally. Though, he had to admit that this distraction eliminated part of his earlier depression, at least for the moment.  
  
He made a quick glance over the bowed girl, noting her very dark purple hair in a ponytail that currently hung beside her face. From the clips in her hair to her shoes, she looked like someone who always had every outfit planned to the last detail. She seemed like some sort of snob rich girl, but the way she was apologizing so politely, he dismissed the idea. After all, he if could barely understand his neighbor Akari Fujisaki, then he certainly had no right to judge her.  
  
He didn't have long to study the girl, however, as two other people caught up with the girl. They seemed slightly out of breath, as if they had been chasing after the girl for a while. He shrugged again, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I better be going. Be more careful, girl."  
  
The girl looked up, her lavender eyes looking slightly defiant, before she answered, "I will. Next time you should warn people before they run into you." Before he could respond she was off again. Her two friends groaned and chased after her.  
  
*** ***  
  
"Shindo didn't come to this week's Dan game either," Yoshitaka Waya stated. He stood surrounded by fellow friends. He wore a gray button up shirt and blue jeans. His messy brown hair, appeared more untidy from the continuous motion his hand had caused.  
  
"Huh? Really?" asked Toshinori Honda, his blonde hair amplified the dumb- disbelieving look.  
  
"Is he sick?" asked Asumi Nase. She wore a blue and white stripped shirt that accented her red-brown hair slightly.  
  
"According to the Institute, he hasn't reported any health problems," continued Waya. "He also hasn't come to the study group either. I wonder what's wrong."  
  
Nearby Akira Touya slammed his fist into a nearby wall. He wore a striped black and gray tie with a gray suit and white button up shirt. His blue eyes were narrowed in anger and his expression was one that could kill. His only thought was "Shindo." Someone might think that he obsessed over the poor boy, but in reality he was frustrated. Something in his gut told him that he needed Hikaru in order to play Go the way he always wanted. A true rival... if he ever got to play the ditching brat.  
  
Waya turned with slight surprise towards the noise, before he returned to his friends. "Though this should still be a good tournament. How do the rest of the Insei look?" The group of Insei shifted nervously, avoiding Waya's gaze indirectly.  
  
"Well, there is one that reminds my of Ochi," responded Yuta Fukui, his short black hair and pudgy appearance always brought a smile.  
  
"Yeah. I think she's a Shindo Prodigy, starting at the bottom less than a year ago. She's much better than he was, though," replied Asumi, tossing her hair slightly.  
  
"No kidding! She hasn't even lost a point game since she became an Insei last fall!" ranted Toshinori. "She's currently ranked seventh, but the new rankings come out next week. She'll be first on the list for sure."  
  
Waya looked at them with wide eyes. An Insei to never loose a game was extremely rare, though, he suspected that if Touya had become an Insei he would have been the same.  
  
"Oh and her two friends that come to watch are so annoying," complained Asumi. "They've even caused Itoko to loose several non-point games. And the boy doesn't even know how to play Go properly! Sensei gets really angry at them."  
  
"Sensei Shinoda, Shihan allows outsiders to observe the class?" asked an even more surprised Waya.  
  
"Not really, but Itoko-chan has to keep them around sometimes. They are foreigners staying with her family."  
  
"Itoko-san is the daughter of Itoko, Sasaki Four-Dan," came a decidingly older male voice. The group turned to see Seiji Ogata, recently made Ten- Dan. He wore a snow white suite, with a blue shirt beneath and a matching white tie. His aviator glasses glinted slightly with the sun light streaming in from the open door to the right. He wore a slight frown on his face, for he had just learned a few minutes ago that Shindo would not be attending today. It had proved pointless to come to this tournament, after all, but since he was here he might as well make the most of it.  
  
"Itoko..." mumbled a new voice. Akira had turned around from his sulking session to catch the end of the group's conversation.  
  
"She's just an Insei," muttered Waya. "We pros can beat her any day, right Touya?"  
  
Touya couldn't care less. He was frustrated that Shindo was avoiding the games and he couldn't figure out why. Some insignificant Insei meant nothing to him. He turned around without saying anything, but before he took a step a person sprinted across his path. His eyes widened as he turned his head to follow the being. He didn't get to see much as two more people ran around him after the figure.  
  
"Eri-chan!" called the two figures before they disappeared into the crowd.  
  
A loud sigh resounded behind him. "She's here," chorused a few, while others said less than polite comments about the girl.  
  
Waya looked towards the direction where the small stampede had disappeared. He shook his head. "Yeah, she must be a lot like Shindo to run around like that," he muttered.  
  
Ogata-sensei smiled slightly. A new wave was coming, he was positive of that. Touya and Shindo were leading the way, but apparently the wave was still growing. He made a mental note to watch the young girl's games. Since he came all this way, he might as well take a good look at any new potential players that will help overthrow the Go world. He moved off from the group and headed towards the room where the tournament would be held.  
  
*** ***  
  
Touya sighed inwardly. He was currently going over the game with the Insei who had just lost spectacularly. If this was the number one Insei, there was no hope for any good pros coming in this year. A loud noise, stopped him in his instruction.  
  
He and his partner turned to see a small crowd at table seven. He could barely see, but he noticed right off, that the pro seated there had lost. The strangest thing, though was that the Insei, whom he couldn't see, was actually instructing her pro what he did wrong!  
  
Waya left the crowd and whistled. He glanced over at Touya, answering his unspoken question. "Itoko-san won by ten and a half moku. Ochi didn't have a chance."  
  
As the crowd dispersed, he saw a girl about his age, sitting there putting all the stones away. Ochi, no less, had gone off to cry in the restroom. Her unusual hair color reminded him a lot of Shindo's multicolored hair. It was kind of disturbing to see a female Shindo, so Touya quickly turned away and continued on his instruction.  
  
When he finished a moment later, and all his Go stones had been put away, he chanced another glance her way. This time he saw two other people with her. A girl with dark red hair sat in front of the Go board, as Itoko recounted the plays of the game. A boy with unkept blonde hair, held by sunglasses, stood watching in complete fascination of the board.  
  
"Now, here was where he made his fatal mistake, can you see why?" The purple haired girl asked her audience.  
  
"He should have played off his white here," said the redhead, her foreign accent strong in her Japanese.  
  
"No, here!" the boy said.  
  
Itoko and the other girl rolled their eyes. "No, moron," said the red head. "This isn't a chekka game! This is Go."  
  
"I know that, but this move would have at least given him time to correct his other mistakes."  
  
The Insei leaned forward and examined the spot. "I would have used that spot later. You see this one would have help save three moku points, while this point here," she motioned as she moved her hand, "would only hold him without any points. This would be a good comeback move after he gained the points he already lost."  
  
The redhead laughed. "Poor you, Axelle!"  
  
The blonde grumbled. "Shut up, Berdine."  
  
"So, can we watch your next game, Eri-chan? We promise to be quiet," asked the girl called Berdine.  
  
The other girl looked up from the Go board, slightly off guard. "Umm. sure."  
  
Touya understood that look. Apparently, the girl had just forfeited her next match. He sighed and rose from his seat. He would never freely give up a game. That was where this player was weak. She didn't understand that to be the best, you have to do everything you can to be the best. Letting her friends watch her games, allowed her weak points to show. She wouldn't make it in the pros. But... He glanced at the board, his eyes widening slightly as the configuration. She would make it, if she kept her friends out of it.  
  
*** ***  
  
Berdine stood next to a gloomy looking Eriza. "I'm sorry! I thought you weren't going to be that nervous with us watching! I should have known!" She paced nervously in front of her 'little sister.' "This always seems to happen!"  
  
Eriza was currently tying her shoes in the entrance hall. All the Insei were eliminated in round two, so there was really no point to stay and watch. She looked up into the stricken face of her 'older sister' and smiled. "It's fine. I need to do some of my homework for classes on Monday anyway."  
  
Berdine moved forward quickly, placing her hand to her forehead. "Are you feeling well? I think I just heard you talk about homework."  
  
Eriza smiled slightly. "I'm fine. Besides, I've been falling behind. Mom and Dad are getting annoyed with me. I should do it. Hey, why don't we go for some karaoke tonight? Your treat."  
  
"Sounds like a plan!" Berdine said, her voice now full of excitement. She did deserve to pay for it this time.  
  
"Hey, I'm going to stay here and watch the other matches," said another voice. Axelle had slipped out there for a moment.  
  
"Even better! A day without Axelle! Let's go shopping!"  
  
Eriza groaned inwardly, but smiled nonetheless. She really hated shopping, but it always did cheer up her sister. "That's fine, Axelle. We'll come by around five then?"  
  
Axelle grinned and jumped around. For an eighteen year old, he certainly acted like a kid a lot. "Thanks! I'll see you guys later!" And with that he ran off back into the Go rooms.  
  
Berdine grabbed Eriza arm as soon as she was ready. "Come on! I want to see if some of my favorite groups have their new singles out! Oh and maybe a few manga too! Oh and definitely some more clothes! I am not letting your mother make me matching clothes!"  
  
They both laughed and exited the building heading off for more adventures in department stores. 


End file.
